The Provence trail
Provence was another of those places well known to Johns and its particuler geographic features play a significant part in his stories. The region is easily accessible, with the major port of Marseilles to the south. Airports and railways link the area with international destinations. Plaine de la Crau This area features in Biggles Works It Out and Biggles and the Plane That Disappeared as a place where illegal flight operations took place. It is likely that the more remote, less populated dry Crau to the south was used in both cases. Part of this is a nature reserve. In Worrals on the War-Path, Worrals had taken off from the Cevennes in a stolen Me 110 and was headed for the Crau but when she noted that the airbase at Marignane (Marseilles) was on the edge of the Crau and likely to have French, if not German aircraft, she turned slightly west and ended up in the Camargue instead. *Saint Martin de Crau - this town 20 km east of Arles has the Maison de la Crau, a museum devoted to the ecology of the Crau and is a suitable springboard to explore the Crau natural reserve. *Istres Airbase - In Biggles and the Plane That Disappeared, Bertie recalled that there was a French Air Force base in the Crau but he wasn't sure whether it was a service base or a training school Istres Airbase on the east edge of the Crau is a large base hosting several units as well as formerly hosting a training school. Salon de Provence on the northeast edge became a training base after WW2. It is probably not possible to visit either base but Istres does host airshows. Aigues Mortes In Worrals on the War-Path, Worrals and Frecks escape south from the Cevennes in the company of trans-humance shepherds and ended their journey at Aigues Mortes, a town on the western edge of the Camargue. *Tour Constance - a tower in Aigues Mortes. In the book, it was some sort of German headquarters but Louis Capelle arranged for Worrals and Frecks to stay there in some dungeons while waiting for Bill Ashton. He reasoned that the Germans would never think to look inside their own headquarters. *Salt pans - Bill's landing ground was 10 minutes at a fast gallop, say 2 km from the Tour Constance. After sighting Bill's aircraft, Worrals flashed her light signal and "pretended not to see the lights (of German troops) that were drawing nearer across the saltings from the direction of Aigues-Mortes." The Camargue Worrals crash landed her stolen Me 110 here in Worrals on the War-Path. She was surprised at the behaviour of her aircraft aircraft as it touched down and then remembered that it was only to be expected, given the marshy, soft, nature of the ground. She then hitched a horseback lift from a gardien, got to a main road and stole a motorcycle to head back to the Cevennes. In Dangerous Freight, a DC-3 carrying gold crashed here. Biggles became suspicious, noting that an experienced pilot should be able to put down safely on the flat terrain, and visited the crash site. In The Case of the Fatal Ruby, Biggles and Ginger landed on the marshy ground in pursuit of Lancelot Seymour. *Marshes of the Camargue - Where Worrals force-landed, she estimated that she was some 20 miles from the nearest town of Nimes. She didn't think of Arles, which must have been further away. Later, she would tell a policeman on a main road that the wreck was some 6 km away by foot. This suggests that she had landed on the western part of marshes. by contrast, in Dangerous Freight, the nearest town was Arles, an hour's ride away, so Biggles would have been on the eastern side of the Camargue. See if you can spot the bulls and the gardiens which feature so much in all the stories. Also, look out for the pink flamingoes, which Monsieur Laroux claimed to be photographing or indeed a lonely farmstead such as one owned by Monsieur Vallon. *Le bois des Rièges - in The Case of the Fatal Ruby, Lancelot Seymour landed here. Biggles described it as "about the wildest part of the territory". It is not clear if this area of salt flats can be visited as it is part of the strict nature reserve. Arles Surprisingly, this important Camargue town doesn't feature in the Johns stories as often as one might expect. It was the nearest town in Dangerous Freight. Monsieur Vallon rode there to report the crash in Dangerous Freight and the bodies of the pilots were taken there. Biggles, it seemed, did not go there himself. Nimes Worrals passed through this town on the northwest edge of the Camargue while riding a stolen motorcycle. In the town she stopped to ask for directions to Alais. Marseilles And not forgetting, this major French city with its airport which features in so many stories, too many to list. *Marseilles-Provence Airport - formerly known as Marignane Airport, this features in so many of the Biggles stories. It still has a marine aircraft facility. Biggles was there, for example, in Biggles' Combined Operation and was actually based there in the derivative graphic novel Feu sur la Provence 1 (Lombard) but the French water bomber aircraft are not based there anymore. *The old port - In Biggles' Combined Operation, Eddie Ross tailed Alfondez all the way here from Paris and saw him board the Saphos. To be realistic, you have to take a night train from Paris to Marseilles, not a TGV, but there are no night trains to Marseilles from Paris now. Biggles chose to rendezvous with Eddie at the Hotel Europe on the La Canebiere, but there is no such hotel. Best guess would be one of the grand old hotels on that main street overlooking the old port--he would want a view of the old port surely, as that was where the Saphos was docked. *Notre Dame de la Garde - this basilica stands on the highest hill in Marseilles and overlooks the old port. As Biggles said about Eddie Ross: "Using his head, he took taxi to the top of the hill that overlooks the harbour and watched the Saphos out of sight. She took a course south-east." Category:Itineraries Category:Research Topics